Britain’s housing market is “past peak pain” , the upmarket estate agent Savills has said. The big mortgage lenders Halifax and Nationwide building society have recorded monthly house price gains in recent months, which have taken some by surprise. But that does not mean the annual declines in property prices are over. Just over 60% of households (about 16 million) own their homes in England and Wales, but property has been an engine of economic growth since the financial crisis ushered in an era of low interest rates, with the wealth it creates fuelling spending on goods and services. When house prices rise – or fall – there is an…
